"Team" member Emblidege declared that, “The city did one of the most thorough environmental impact reports it's every done”. Ginsburg would go on to repeatedly depict it as “Perhaps the most vetted project in the history of the city.” But the CFF “Team” still had more tricks up its sleeves including teaching children "bully ball". The resulting Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was required to undergo the technical scrutiny of public comment at various Commissions. In what was perhaps one of their most cynical tactics -- the City Fields Foundation’s (CFF) strategy became to tie-up the deliberations by exploiting children.

Buell, “You can’t cut off their speech.”

One Commissioner acknowledged, "I do think that children can be easily influenced to stand in front of us and speak to the benefit of using it as a playing surface. However, there is no information given to them, nor do I expect them to understand some of the down sides." The children recruited to speak at the hearings were for the most part too young to have read the report, much less understand it. However, they could mumble and enthusiastically recite coached comments for hours. This technique required marathon hearings. It also commandeered the comment times of knowledgeable medical professionals and other speakers. Ultimately the resulting hours of waiting discouraged many expert speakers from even attending the hearings.

“Can we get a sheriff up here?”

A 2011 Commission hearing specifically directed that comments be limited to the topic. “We’ve had a lot of testimony about the project and kids and all that stuff and that has nothing to do with the environmental impact report”, the Commission President stated and then added, “If people could focus their comments on the Report as we stated earlier in the hearing we would all appreciate it.” This request was largely ignored.

“They’re saying the same thing over and over again”

Following the success of this strategy, Mark Buell, the president of the Recreation & Park Commission, administered an unusual arrangement. He combined his Commissions’ hearing with the Planning Commission’s hearing, despite their very different functions and purposes. Ironically, just months earlier, Buell had noted that, “The idea of comparing those votes is not fair”.

“OK were going to call the Sheriffs back up.”

CFF sent out pre-press releases, including one entitled “Hundreds of Kids Descending on City Hall”. The resulting disruption was extensive enough that the court had to call in the Sheriff’s Department. CFF had arranged for leagues of children’s teams to overrun the hearings. The meeting took nearly 12 hours.